


To the late night double feature show

by LadyLondonderry



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Crack, Halloween, M/M, Meet-Cute, this is a nonsense fic happy halloween
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-31
Updated: 2020-10-31
Packaged: 2021-03-09 05:55:59
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,925
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27309553
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyLondonderry/pseuds/LadyLondonderry
Summary: It’s the tap on his shoulder that notifies him.Louis jumps, whirling around and pulling one earbud out. Clifford barks in oblivious excitement.“Sorry!”says someone."I just wanted to know if I could pet your dog?”Louis squints. He backs up a step. He wonders if the punch at the fancy dress party was spiked, or if one of the brownies Zayn gave him had a little something extra in it, because there is definitely someone there but there is also definitely not someone there.“Uh,” says Louis.“Your dog,”says someone.“What’s his name?”
Relationships: Harry Styles/Louis Tomlinson
Comments: 31
Kudos: 208





	To the late night double feature show

**Author's Note:**

  * For [RealityBetterThanFiction](https://archiveofourown.org/users/RealityBetterThanFiction/gifts).



> HAPPY HALLOWEEN. Do not go into this with expectations.
> 
> Mac this is dedicated to **you** even though it WAS going to be entirely about harry petting dogs and then was almost not about that at all. Whoops. I hope you enjoy it anyway!

Halloween loses a certain amount of appeal when all of your friends have kids, and you’re just stuck walking your dog. 

It’s not that Louis has anything  _ against  _ the fact that all of his friends have kids. He loves their kids! He wishes they were his kids! Sometimes he takes them to the zoo so his friends can sleep and he pretends they’re his own little munchkins! He also was there with Liam and Zayn mere hours ago when they were taking their twins to a fancy dress party that ended with toffee apples and sticky fingers. It was all great fun.

But now it’s only a little after nine and here he is, alone in the park with Clifford, bundled up in the crisp night air. He passes the occasional punch drunk happy couple in various levels of fancy dress but for the most part his only company is a big slobbery dog who takes too long to do his business.

His flat is small and empty, though, so it’s not like he’s in any hurry to get back anyway.

He has earbuds in, cycling through a small playlist of Halloween hits (which is mostly just the Monster Mash and the entire Rocky Horror soundtrack). This is probably the reason why he doesn’t hear someone coming up behind him. 

It’s the tap on his shoulder that notifies him. 

Louis jumps, whirling around and pulling one earbud out. Clifford barks in oblivious excitement. 

_ “Sorry!” _ says someone.  _ “I just wanted to know if I could pet your dog?” _

Louis squints. He backs up a step. He wonders if the punch at the fancy dress party was spiked, or if one of the brownies Zayn gave him had a little something extra in it, because there is definitely someone  _ there _ but there is also definitely  _ not _ someone there.

“Uh,” says Louis. 

_ “Your dog,” _ says someone.  _ “What’s his name?” _

“Clifford,” says Louis. “You can— yeah, of course you can. He doesn’t bite.”

_ “Thank you,” _ says someone, and Louis tries very hard not to look like he’s losing it when a hand that looks like a shadow on a foggy night reaches out and begins petting Clifford.

(Clifford is simply excited to make friends. He wags his tail and wags his body and jumps up toward, well, darkness).

“I’m sorry,” Louis says, blinking heavily. “I really don’t want to be rude, but is there… a reason why I can’t see you?”

The stranger’s hand pauses in Clifford’s fur.  _ “Oh,” _ they say.  _ “Yes. I’m sorry. I completely forgot.” _

And like turning on a light switch, suddenly there is a tall man with curly hair right in front of him.

Louis screeches, and punches the man. 

_ “Holy shit,” _ says the man. Or the someone. The someone man. He dissolves into black smoke again as soon as Louis’ hand connects.  _ “You didn’t have to do that!” _

“I —” Louis grimaces down at own fist. “Well you startled me!”

_ “A nearly invisible being in a park at night doesn’t startle you, but a normal looking human does?” _

“A normal looking human does if he wasn’t  _ there a moment before!” _ Louis argues. “Christ, it’s Halloween. There’s enough jump scares as it is.”

_ “Well I guess I’ll  _ warn you _ next time,”  _ the someone says, sounding deeply sarcastic. 

“Please do,” Louis says. 

Clifford barks. He seems a bit confused as to where the man went, but he goes back to happy wiggles when the hand made of darkness goes back to petting him. 

“So is this one of those  _ ghost appearing only on all hallows eve nights _ or something?” Louis asks, trying to look casual. The brief moment the someone was a man, he was very good looking. 

_ “What? Oh, no I’m always here. Just look a bit ridiculous in the light so I wait until the sun’s gone down to come out.” _

“You  _ live _ in this park?” Louis asks. 

_ “You try getting someone to rent you a flat when you look like this.” _ Louis can vaguely see that the being is motioning to themself.

“Well I do sort of see what you mean…” Louis frowns. “What about when it rains?”

_ “I get wet.” _

Louis frowns deeper. “Well that sort of sucks,” he says.

_ “You’re not wrong.” _

“Are you, I dunno, some sort of interdimensional hell demon? A fairy? Some other being that my mum read picture books about to me as a child?”

The being  _ maybe _ cocks its head to the side.  _ “I mean I think I might be vaguely related to the mothman, but I’ve never met him.” _

“Interesting.” Louis nods. “Can I take a photograph of you?”

_ “Is this one of those for-science things? Are you going to call the government about me? Because let me warn you now, they really don’t care.” _

“I was just going to post it on Instagram, but that is a  _ very _ sad sentence,” Louis says. 

_ “Oh, Instagram. Sure, why not? I’ll take a selfie with you.” _

There’s a lack of sarcasm in that response where Louis really thinks there should be, but he goes with it and pulls out his phone, turning it to selfie mode and pulling a face, crossing his eyes and tapping the button.

The picture, when he clicks to it, very clearly shows his own face, and not too far behind him, two glowing red eyes. “Holy  _ shit,” _ Louis says. “That’s  _ awesome  _ looking!”

_ “Can I see?” _ asks the being. 

Louis holds out the phone and he hears echoey laughter.  _ “That’s not too bad.” _

“I’m posting it,” Louis says. The wind is picking up and he shivers, drawing his hoodie around his neck. “Do you at least have, like, some catacombs around here to sleep in?”

_ “What do I look like, a demon? I’m not messing with whatever’s in there at night.” _

Louis does not deign to point out that this being  _ does _ look vaguely like a demon. “Well why did you look like a man, briefly?”

_ “Because that’s the easiest way to not scare the shit out of someone  _ **_usually_ ** _. You’re the weirdo who’s okay with talking to darkness.” _

“Are you at least, like, immortal or something? Can you fly?”

_ “I tripped over a tree branch about ten minutes ago.” _

“So you’re like a pretty useless demon.”

_ “I’m just a guy who looks a bit weird. Normal lifespan, normal thoughts, I just want to play FIFA and drink beer like everyone else.” _

Louis frowns. “Have you ever played FIFA?”

_ “Just once. I can’t look normal like that for very long but I snuck into someone’s house once and did it for a bit. It’s very fun.”  _ The being sounds wistful.

Louis thinks for a moment. “I have FIFA,” he says.

_ “Now you’re just rubbing it in.” _

“What can you trade me for a night of FIFA and beer?”

The being thinks.  _ “More instagram pictures?”  _ he asks.  _ “I can scare your enemies for you. You have enemies?” _

“I don’t think so, but I’ll go down my facebook friends list and see.” Louis looks contemplatively in the being’s general direction. “What’s your name?”

_ “Harry,” _ says Harry.

“Alright Harry,” says Louis. “I’m Louis. And I assume you’re a figment of my imagination brought on by a mysterious brownie,  _ or _ an interdimensional hell demon who is here because it’s Halloween, but all my friends have kids and I want some excitement in my life, so I’ll make you a deal. You can come back to my place and we will play FIFA and have beer.”

There is silence. The being, Harry, waits for a moment. Then,  _ “Okay, so what’s the deal part of that? I think that’s just an offer, not a deal.” _

Louis scrunches up his face. “God, I don’t know. I lost my train of thought. It’s cold out here. Look, just come play FIFA. If you’re still there in the morning when the sun rises then I’ll figure out the second half of that deal.”

_ “Okay as long as it doesn’t end in anything freaky,” Harry says. “No feet pics.” _

Louis laughs  _ very _ loudly at that, exciting Clifford into barking. “Fine,” he says. “You strike a tough bargain.”

His flat is just at the edge of the park, which is good because walking with Harry is very confusing. It feels like he’s alone but also not alone at the same time. 

“Will you set off alarms?” Louis asks as they enter the building. “Can you break into places?”

As the room bathes the two of them in light, Louis gets a much more defined look at Harry. He looks more human-shaped now, but like a human-shaped cloud of darkness.

_ “I can’t squeeze through things, so I don’t know. There’s not a lot of open doors with alarms waiting for you to walk through them.” _

“Fine point.” Louis finds that he does have to hold the lift open because it doesn’t recognize Harry as a being, so that counts for something. Or against something. 

He thinks maybe he should be embarrassed inviting a man into his very messy flat, but Harry is made of darkness and probably straight, so it’s fine. Clifford immediately jumps onto and takes up the entire sofa when Louis unclips his lead, which makes Harry laugh as Louis pulls beers out of the refrigerator. 

“You’ll have to push him off if you want space,” Louis says. “I just squeeze around him. 

The first game of FIFA is difficult because Harry has some issue pressing the buttons. Also because he doesn’t understand most of the rules. Or any of the rules. But by the third game he seems to have almost gotten the hang of it. 

Louis spends a lot of time in wonder, watching as his form becomes only slightly more physical so that he can drink the beer Louis’ shared with him. He half expects there to just be a puddle of beer soaking into the couch where Harry is, but when Harry does move it’s dry.

Also, Harry’s hilarious for a being of darkness who’s spent most of his life in a park. He apparently just spends a lot of his time petting people’s dogs and stealing food from the cafe at the far edge. 

_ “It’s a life,” _ he says with a shrug.

It’s gone three in the morning when Louis realises how tired he is. Harry seems to notice and puts down the controller.  _ “I should go,” _ he says, sounding mournful.

Louis looks out the window and sees pinpricks of tiny raindrops landing on the windowpane. “It’s wet outside,” he says. “Sleep on the sofa and leave in the morning.”

_ “Really?” _

Louis shrugs. “I mean, you’re probably an interdimensional hell demon but my mum gave me a rosary once I think so I’ll be fine. And Clifford loves the attention.”

(Clifford seems confused by Harry’s presence, but in a happy way where he keeps laying his head on Harry’s feet and then sort of sliding off). 

_ “I mean, if you’re sure…” _

“If you’re still here in the morning, I’ll introduce you to Call of Duty. I think you’re going to be really bad at it.”

Louis isn’t sure how he can tell that Harry’s grinning, but he can.  _ “Deal,”  _ he says. 

— 

Harry isn’t gone in the morning.

Or the morning after.

Or the month after.

Sometimes having a roommate made out of darkness can lead to good things. Like scaring your friend Liam shitless at every opportunity. And kissing a corporeal form, which is a bit electrifying. 

Sometimes having a spouse made out of darkness can make it confusing to adopt children, but  _ not impossible, _ and that’s what’s important.

**Author's Note:**

> Man. You read this. Why would you do this? Ridiculous.   
> Anyway LOVE YOU, DEAR READER! YOU LIGHT UP MY WORLD. fic post is [here](https://londonfoginacup.tumblr.com/post/633520020028375040/to-the-late-night-double-feature-show) if you'd like to reblog it for some reason. Also comments are very nice and kind if you feel so inclined! Happy Halloween! Time to watch Rocky Horror and plan out my costume for next year. Anyone want to be the Bill to my Ted? We can hang out at the Circle K all day and drink slushies.


End file.
